Category: 3. Business

• Cook Government paves way for more housing
  support with the passage of the Help to Buy (Commonwealth Powers) Bill 2025
• Help to Buy will support almost 2,000 low to
  middle-income earners into home ownership each year
• Help to Buy is another joint housing initiative
  with the Albanese Government aimed at increasing affordable home ownership
• Cook Government committed to ensuring every
  Western Australian has a home

Thousands more Western
Australians will now have access to affordable home ownership with the
legislation enabling access to the Commonwealth Government’s Help to Buyschemepassing through the WA Parliament.

Help to Buy will assist
eligible low to middle-income earners to purchase a home with a contribution
from the Commonwealth Government of up to 40 per cent of the purchase price for
new homes and 30 per cent for existing homes.

The scheme will be
available to individuals earning an annual income of up to $100,000 and for
couples with a combined income of $160,000. Eligible participants will be able
to purchase property for up to $850,000 in Perth and up to $600,000 in the rest
of the State, with only a 2 per cent deposit calculated on the purchase price.

The initiative will
improve affordability by reducing both the upfront cost and ongoing mortgage
repayments.

Help to Buy will
complement existing Cook Government initiatives to improve housing
affordability, including Keystart’s new $210 million Urban Connect Shared
Equity product.

Urban Connect Shared
Equity will improve affordability and support investment in multi-residential
developments, with the State Government purchasing an equity share of up to 35
per cent of the home’s value, or a maximum of $250,000, and a deposit of just 2
per cent required.

WA will continue to work
with the Commonwealth on its housing initiatives and Help to Buy is a welcome
partnership approach with the Australian Government to transition more people
into home ownership.

For further information
on Help to Buy, please go to: https://firsthomebuyers.gov.au/australian-government-help-buy-scheme

For further information
on Keystart loan products, please go to: https://www.keystart.com.au/

Comments attributed to Treasurer Rita Saffioti:

“We’re working collaboratively with the Albanese
Labor Government to make housing more affordable for thousands of Western
Australians.

“The Help to Buy scheme will complement the raft of
initiatives our government is rolling out through Keystart including the Urban
Connect Shared Equity product, Skilled Start Home Loans for graduates and
apprentices, and low deposit loans for modular homes.

“Boosting supply is the other key way of improving
affordability and our government is the focus of our additional investment of
around $6 billion in a wide range of initiatives to put WA at the front of the
national pack when it comes to the delivery of new housing.”

Comments attributed to Housing and Works Minister John Carey:

“Our government is investing a record $5.8 billion
in housing and homelessness measures, including the expansion of Keystart to
support more Western Australians into their first home.

The passage of this Bill adds to the vast range of
ways we are working to address pressures in the rental and housing markets.

“WA is already partnering with the Federal
Government to deliver thousands of social and affordable homes, and this joint
initiative demonstrates how we’re continuing to work with the Albanese Labor
Government to increase housing affordability and choice.”

ANZ is forecasting a surge in consumer spending this festive season, with customers expected to inject $5.1 billion into the economy during the holiday shut down period (21 December 2025 to 5 January 2026) – a 4.7% increase on the same period last year.

Spending is expected to be led by categories that capture the holiday spirit, including food and beverages, travel and leisure, digital goods, and precious stones and metals – together accounting for around half of total expenditure.

ANZ General Manager, Deposits and Payments, Kate Britton said: “Customers are embracing the festive spirit and we’re seeing that reflected in their spending habits, both in the lead up to Christmas Day, and the sales that follow it. 

“From travel and leisure to digital goods and luxury items, this seasonal boost offers a significant and welcome uplift for businesses across the country, as consumers use the down time to spoil themselves and their loved ones.” 

One business seeing this trend firsthand is Michael Hill, a long-standing ANZ customer and leading jewellery retailer. CEO of Michael Hill International Limited, Jonathan Waecker, said: 

“Christmas is one of our favourite moments of the year at Michael Hill, and the joy of gifting just keeps getting bigger. This season, we are celebrating with an incredible range of fine jewellery across key price points, making it easier than ever to find something truly special for the people you love.

“Our iconic packaging is more beautiful than ever, so every gift feels magical from the moment it is unwrapped. It is a time filled with sparkle, celebration, and the delight of giving something that lasts.”

Key trends from 2024 ANZ customer data highlights shifting consumer priorities:

• Digital goods (such as digital games, platform subscriptions, digital books and apps) surged 50.9% year-on-year, while precious items rose 24%

• Holiday-driven demand spikes were evident across hotels (+31.9%), vehicle rentals (+31.5%), and wineries (+24.3%), compared to normal trading weeks*

*Normal trading weeks refer to weeks not influenced by an event or festival.

State-by-state insights from 2024:

• QLD, NT, and WA recorded the largest year-on-year increases (10%, 9%, and 8.8% respectively)

• WA had the highest spend per capita ($1,465, up 6.2%), while QLD saw the strongest per capita growth (8%)

Holiday spending patterns:

• Boxing Day rebounds strongly, driven by post-Christmas sales, with $282m spent in 2024 on 26 December alone

• Pre-Christmas spending is consistently high, with $415m spent on Christmas Eve in 2024, up from $295m in 2023

Data refers to the period of 21 December to 5 January.

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For media enquiries contact:

Alexandra La Sala
+61 499 292 554

Kate Power
+61 481 547 556

anzcomau:newsroom/mediacentre/Media-Release

Festive spending: ANZ forecasts $5.1 billion boost during holiday ‘shut down’

2025-12-17

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Tuesday, December, 2025

Each year, the Industrial Automation Department at Bakersfield College hosts their
Senior Projects Open House which allows students in the program to present the innovative
projects they have been working on throughout the year. The event is open to the public,
and attendees have the opportunity to preview the students’ automation creations and
interact with the people who developed them. This year’s open house took place during
the first week of December and was hosted in the Robotics Lab of the Science & Engineering
Building.

There were a variety of projects that covered multiple industrial practices including
agriculture, human-machine interface, industrial processes, and more. One of the participating
projects was titled ‘Aerophonics with Weather Machine’ and was conceived and created
by a student team. RJames Viloria, Juan Manriquez, and Amy Huerta have been working
together on the agriculture-based project for nearly two semesters. The ambitious
endeavor focuses on optimizing a controlled environmental system for more efficient
farming.

“We came up with the idea because most of the solutions in the market are timer-based,”
says RJames Viloria, “the purpose of our project is to implement precision by measuring
nutrients, PH levels, and temperature in order to increase yields.” They built the
entire project from scratch, and their display included a kale crop they had cultivated.
“We grew kale, but we also tested lettuces and specifically, Romaine lettuce,” says
Viloria, “and we were able to increase the growth rate and yield of the crops.”

When asked if they felt their project was successful, Juan Manriquez was quick to
reply, “As a group and team, we feel like we nailed it,” he says, “all of our hard
work has paid off.” The team gets graded throughout the entire process, but the open
house serves as the last step to receiving their grade. “We do get reviewed and graded
during both semesters, and towards the end, the overall project would be the presentation,”
says Manriquez, “So, based on how that goes today – it’s like the final of our course.”

The Industrial Automation open house served a perfect environment to showcase the
talent, creativity and technical skill developed within the department. The dedication
demonstrated by students like Viloria, Manriquez, and Huerta reflects their commitment
to hands-on learning and modern problem solving. Congratulations to all participating
seniors for their impressive work and successful presentations and best wishes as
they take the next steps in their academic and professional careers.

Households that use high-speed NBN plans with a fibre to the premises (FTTP) or hybrid fibre coaxial (HFC) connection are now receiving faster internet speeds following the rollout of NBN Co’s recent upgrade program, the ACCC’s latest Measuring Broadband Australia report has found.

In September 2025, NBN Co increased the wholesale plan speeds for certain NBN plans that use a FTTP or HFC connection at no extra charge for retailers. The upgrade was not available to any other connection types.

Further, the speed increase was limited to 100/20 Mbps (NBN Home Fast), 250/25 Mbps (NBN Home Superfast) and 1000/50 Mbps (NBN Home Ultrafast) plans, which have now increased to 500/50 Mbps, 750/50 Mbps and 1000/100 Mbps respectively.

“Our latest report has found that the recent changes to certain high-speed NBN plans have now been passed on to retail customers, meaning that most households that use the upgraded plans on a FTTP or HFC connection are now accessing faster internet speeds,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.

The upgraded NBN Home Fast plan, which now offers customers 500/50 Mbps speeds, was the most popular high-speed NBN fixed-line plan among the services monitored in this report. The average download speed on the upgraded NBN Home Fast plan during the busy hours of 7 to 11pm on weekdays was 503.9 Mbps, with 80.5 per cent of services on this plan achieving an average busy hour speed exceeding 500 Mbps.

While many FTTP and HFC connections that use the upgraded plans consistently achieved download speeds in line with the new plan speeds, there was a small proportion of underperforming services that rarely, if ever, recorded download speeds close to their new plan speeds.

These underperforming services may be experiencing speed constraints due to their in-home equipment. For example, older home routers may not be able to support access to 100 Mbps download speeds or higher.

“Consumers that are using older Wi-Fi routers may be missing out on the faster download speeds that are available on their upgraded plan,” Ms Brakey said.

“We encourage consumers to contact their retailer if they are not able to access the higher download speeds despite their plan being upgraded. We expect retailers to help customers understand if either their router or the network is preventing them from accessing the full speeds of their selected plan.”

“While NBN Co’s upgraded higher speed plans benefit large households with high broadband usage, many households may receive better value from a less expensive 25 Mbps or 50 Mbps speed plan depending on their household’s broadband usage,” Ms Brakey said.

Households that have a fibre to the node (FTTN) or fibre to the curb (FTTC) NBN connection saw no change to their broadband speeds. For these connection types, the fastest plan download speed available is still 100 Mbps.

“Consumers with FTTN or FTTC connections that would like faster internet speeds should contact their internet provider to check if their NBN connection is eligible for an upgrade to FTTP,” Ms Brakey said.

The report also observed performance improvements on Starlink’s Satellite network. The average busy hour upload speed on Starlink’s network increased from 30.6 Mbps in the previous quarter’s report to 46.2 Mbps in the latest report. The average busy hour download speed also increased from 189.3 Mbps to 197.2 Mbps

Background

Data for the Measuring Broadband Australia program is provided by UK-based firm SamKnows using methodology based on speed testing programs delivered in the UK, US, Canada and New Zealand.

NBN services may exceed their maximum plan download speed due to overprovisioning. This is where NBN Co provides a slightly higher data rate than the wholesale plan download speed to accommodate for the portion of a connection’s data rate lost in retrieving information that enables a download to occur. NBN Co does not currently overprovision the uplink for NBN fixed-line connections.